Congratulations to Evan Mawdsley, the winner of this year’s Gilder Lehrman Military History Prize!
His book Supremacy at Sea: Task Force 58 and the Central Pacific Victory will be celebrated on December 2 at the Yale Club of New York, along with the books of finalists Tim Cook and Vaughn Scribner.
Learn about National Hispanic Heritage Month and Spanish influence on American history through our suite of resources developed in conjunction with the Queen Sofía Spanish Institute and the Royal Academy of History of Spain.
Image: “World of Columbus, 1492” in R. Baxter Blair et al., Hart-Bolton American History Maps. Chicago: Denoyer-Geppert Co., 1917–1927. (Library of Congress)
History Now, the Gilder Lehrman Institute’s quarterly journal featuring essays by leading historians, is free and open to all!
Read the latest issue and explore the hundreds of essays in our History Now archive.
Image: Thomas Moran, The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, oil on canvas, 1893–1901 (Smithsonian American Art Museum)
This new unit is part of the History School Book Club. The founding era refers to the period in American history from approximately 1774 to 1797, encompassing the Revolutionary War, the establishment of the United States, and the creation of its foundational government.
Image: A detail from an engraving of Benjamin Franklin by Edward Savage, published in London, ca. 1800 (The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, GLC04952)
The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History is excited to introduce our new Citizenship hub. Take the US Naturalization Exam—available in short, intermediate, full, and Kahoot! formats—and receive real-time feedback on your results!
This new self-paced course, led by Mia Bay of the University of Cambridge, uses the life of Ida B. Wells as a focal point for understanding Black history in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Image: Ida B. Wells-Barnett by Oscar B. Willis, ca. 1894 (New York Public Library Digital Collections)
15 Professional Development Hours
K–12 educators can earn their graduate degree in this affordable, online, accredited program. Applications are open all year and are reviewed on a rolling basis.
Spring registration opens on Monday, November 24.
Our master’s degree program gives K–12 educators an affordable way to earn a graduate degree while working full time.
Explore American history from your own home, in your own time, and at your own pace! Educators can obtain professional development credit.
Free, self-paced courses in American history for high school students. Students must be 13 or older to register for a course.
Deepen your knowledge of this commemoration with historical documents, essays, videos, and lesson plans from the Gilder Lehrman Institute.
Almanacs were used to popularize the abolitionist cause.
Deepen your knowledge of this holiday with historical documents, essays, videos, and lesson plans from the Gilder Lehrman Institute.
Deadline for scholars of American history to apply for a $3000 research fellowship.
Submit your best creative piece for the chance to see Hamilton in New York City! (Lottery deadline: February 15)
Every Sunday at 2:00 pm ET (11:00 am PT) on Zoom
Join us for our weekly interview series in which historians discuss their acclaimed books followed by a Q&A with the at-home audience. Please click any of the upcoming episodes to register. You can purchase any of the books featured on our bookshop.org page, for which we receive an affiliate commission.
Life After Power: Seven Presidents and Their Search for Purpose Beyond the White House
History Matters, a collection of essays by David McCullough
Measuring the Man: The Writings of Frederick Douglass on Abraham Lincoln
In 1991, Richard Gilder and Lewis Lehrman embarked on a mission to create one of the most important repositories of historical American documents in the country. Today, the Gilder Lehrman Collection comprises over 87,000 items that document the political, social, and economic history of the United States.
We hold many rare copies of foundational American documents, like this first draft of the US Constitution
Discover 2,000+ individuals who lived through the American Revolution, like the poet Phillis Wheatley.
Bring history to life with visual sources, like this US War Department recruitment poster (ca. 1944–1945).
In addition to documents, the Collection includes objects, like this campaign button for Lyndon Johnson.
Our Collection highlights the contributions of many Americans, like those of a female pilot in the 1910s.
Explore the fight against slavery through abolitionist writings, like this note by Frederick Douglass.
The Online Journal of the Gilder Lehrman Institute
Published four times a year, History Now features essays by the nation’s leading historians for teachers, students, and general readers.
History Now is free for everyone and does not require a subscription or login.
Learn about the historical research process in this step-by-step guide. As you progress, you will have opportunities to apply what you are learning.
Image: American Servicemen and women in Paris celebrating the unconditional surrender of the Japanese, August 15, 1945 (National Archives, 111-SC-210241)
Stay up to date with all the work that we do to combat historical illiteracy and invigorate the study of the past.
Catch up on the highlights from our work with students, teachers, researchers, and the general public.
See all official press releases for our important events, significant programs, and special initiatives.
